Israeli Interior Minister Arye Dery has said a biometric database pilot programme must be extended for another nine months to ensure it is a success.The call comes as the pilot was due to wrap up at the end of this month, after being extended for nine months, reports Haaretz.Dery has said more time is needed to examine the various opinions relating to the scope of the database and its contents.Any pilot extension will require approval by the ministerial committee for biometric applications, various Knesset committees, and the entire Knesset.Last July, more than 70 Israeli computer scientists have written to the government seeking a re-think on the plans.In an open letter from academics including an Israel Prize laureate and former head of National Academy of Sciences, the scientists said the database will intrude on privacy and risk national security.”We, the undersigned, computer and information security specialists, are warning the prime minister, cabinet ministers and Knesset [parliament] members of the risks involved in making the Interior Ministry's experimental pilot biometric identification system compulsory for all residents of the State of Israel,” wrote the letter.
Extension proposed for Israel’s biometric database trial
